Thursday, July 17, 2008

Parenting Coach for Teens

If you approach the ideas here with an open mind, you will have more confidence in parenting and enjoy the challenge in parenting teens. Take the best and discard the rest.

Teens are searching for their identities, their lives are no less stressful as ours. How do we help them to help themselves? Simple but not easy. Parents need to be role models and to influence your teens in a positive direction. To help them become independent youths who have self-responsibilities and make right choices.

More often than not, their mental, physical & emotional development, can be a major challenge in this modern society with the speed of change. Parents who experienced hormonal changes in their retiring age could well relate to their teens' experiences.

You need to support each other during these trying times. Explain to them and talk about your difficulties so that they too could understand that creating a space can lead to loving energy within the family. Teens are not designed to drive you crazy nor you them. Not taking it personally is a good start.

Coaching is mentoring, guiding, supporting and encouraging. Coaching is not telling your child what to do. Parent Coach gives the ownership of self-responsibilities to the teens today. Teens need to learn responsibilities. The authoritative style of parenting does not auger well with today's democratic style of managing our lives. The environment is on a transition to more self-expression. Teens are confused by the need to be creative and to be told what to do. The influences from the media and TV give them a different perspective of what is.. There is a need for them to be heard and to express their views to grow and develop their innate potential. Encouragement to have self-expression helps them to think, develop confidence.

A Parent Coach listens about 80% and speaks 20% of the time. We need to know what works and what does not. A Parent Coach is aware.

Dolly Yeo is the chief coach and founder of Mindset Coaching which specialises in life coaching. She is a Results Certified Coach (Australia) and a member of the International Coach Federation, Singapore.

She is also an Active Parenting Certified Leader as well as a Certified Parent Facilitator for Parenting Workshops. You can find out more about Dolly Yeo and Mindset Coaching at http://www.mindset-coaching.com or to subscribe to her free newsletters.

No comments: